IN 2015, Liz Phillips got a call from her husband, Craig. “He said, ‘I found the house where we’re going to live. If you want to see it before I put an offer on it, you better get over here,’” she recalls, laughing. “So I got up to Aiken as fast as I could to see this home he’d been raving about.”
As she walked through the contemporary dwelling, a photograph in the powder room caught her eye. Artist Andy Warhol stands in the foreground of the black-and-white image set in the famed Glass House designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson. “My mom and Andy were great friends, so it immediately struck me,” says Liz. “Seeing that, it felt like this home was meant to be.”
Sitting on 118 acres, nearly 91 of them in conservancy, the striking one-bedroom modern dwelling is a sight to behold. Long, rolling fields of green lead up to the edge of the gray travertine loggia of the home. It’s a magnificent piece of architecture built of glass and steel, and it’s especially notable in a town like Aiken, South Carolina, where traditional design reigns supreme. But that’s exactly what the previous homeowners, Richard and Sara McNeil, wanted: unique and modern.
Just twelve minutes down the road from their primary residence, the McNeils purchased the original traditional 1960s home in 2010, but in 2013, a fire destroyed the home, and Richard’s wheels began spinning. For years, he had been captivated by the Edith Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois. “I was enamored with the architect and what he was able to do with this home,” he says of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. “Homes by Frank Lloyd Wright are dramatic, but not often different from one another. The Farnsworth House was so unique for midcentury-modern architecture. It’s truly the most interesting of all.” A visit to the home solidified Richard’s passion for its architecture. When the McNeils’ home burned down, it opened the opportunity to create their own marvel.
Having worked with designer Tom Bossard on their previous residence, the couple enlisted him to design the interiors and manage the build. Colorado-based architecture firm Rowland + Broughton designed the home while Kisner Construction built the structure. “Rich was passionate about van der Rohe and the Farnsworth House,” says Bossard. “So that guided our interior choices.” Nearly all the furniture is from Knoll. (Van der Rohe granted Knoll permission to exclusively produce his line of furniture, including the famous Barcelona chair and ottoman.)
The bucolic setting takes center stage beyond the floor-toceiling glass structure with a steel frame and a neutral palette.Clean midcentury-modern lines provide the ideal backdrop to the McNeils’ art collection. Avid collectors, the couple often traveled with Bossard to Art Basel in Miami to scour for artwork. One dramatic found piece by artist Luis Bivar hangs above the bed in the owner’s suite.
When the McNeils sold the home to the Phillipses in 2015, some of the artwork was on an exclusion list, including the Warhol Liz spotted while touring the home. On closing day, as the couples came together for a celebratory glass of wine toasting the passing of the home from seller to buyer, Sara gave Liz that very photograph as a housewarming gift. “It was so thoughtful and kind,” says Liz. Today, the framed image hangs in the same place, a subtle nod to how little things can inspire big visions.